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What can I do with truffles and truffle oil?

I've been given a small bottle of truffle oil and three black truffles. Can you suggest an interesting starter to make using these ingredients?

Lucky you! Truffles are one of the rarest and most expensive foods in the world, mainly because of where they grow and how they're found (with sniffer pigs and dogs). They're best used in pasta and risotto dishes, both of which can be served as a starter, like the Italians do. Otherwise, here are some alternative truffle starters:

• Prepare a salad with some really fancy leaves (rocket, mizuno and some of the other more unusual ones) and make a salad dressing by sauteing some wild mushrooms along with the thinly sliced truffles, lemon juice and truffle oil; top the salad off with boiled and halved quails eggs.
• How about truffled carpaccio: very thinly sliced raw fillet of beef scattered with very thinly sliced celery and truffles and a shaving of parmesan? Drizzle with a bit of the truffle oil.
• Queen scallops, lightly fried, grilled or poached, with chopped truffle, julienne of carrot and leek with a light vinaigrette made from the oil around the edge of the plate.
• Truffles are also used a lot to make sauces, usually cream sauces, which would go nicely with a piece of fish, grilled or poached, say turbot (which is wonderful but expensive) or sea bass. If used as a starter, the pieces don't have to be too large.

I know these ideas may sound a little over the top, but truffles are just that kind of ingredient. If it were me, I'd stick to a simple pasta starter, made with fresh tagliatelle tossed in a light cream sauce:

Sweat a shallot until soft, add some wild mushrooms and saute.

Add the chopped truffles and deglaze with a little white wine or vermouth.

Pour in double cream and reduce until slightly thickened, season with lemon juice, salt and pepper and toss in the pasta.

Serve drizzled with more truffle oil, parmesan shavings, a simple green salad and fresh Italian bread.

Hope some of these ideas help

Terry

Over the page: More truffle ideas

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